Simply Loud Cannabis Co.

This work has been created as part of my job at Simply Loud Cannabis Co, a local and black-owned Detroit dispensary in the heart of New Center. I applied for the job because I noticed they had a great customer experience, but lacked design expertise. In my role as Creative Designer, I am the sole creator of all graphic content going out to customers, such as take-home flyers, digital and physical signage, shirts, and social media presence of the dispensary, while also completing shifts as Front Desk Reception, checking in guests and making sure they are following proper guidelines. 

Deliverables:  

Social Media Presence | In-Store Motion Signage | Printed Flyers & Signage

The logo was not created by me, but I did need to design a visual language and brand around it. Our space being an art gallery is something that also sets us apart from most other dispensaries, with an approachable feeling rooted in the local Detroit art scene full of vibrant large paintings and work by local artists. We are sleek, sophisticated, and modern, yet we’re right down the street, so you’ll get a luxury deal at a local price.

For my typefaces, I originally had two hard-cut serifs: Borax VF and Campaign Serif, with DIN Variable to supplement the smaller text. But, in later versions, legibility, espeically over digital platforms began to come into play, to I switched to Sirenia. It is clean, feminine,sophisticated, and visually aligned with Campaign Serif and the original Simply Loud logo (which is still being used for non-design elements in the store), but is also very legible and easy-to-read for our demographic of older customers who have difficulty reading small text. My favorite details are how the f dips down, and the curves in the letters (especially the x, w, and v) thicken the serifs slightly. I also enjoy that it feels stamp-like and scrapbook-y, but still a serif, therefor proper & distinguished. It also reminds me of my website’s typeface :) coincidence?

My first task as Creative Designer was to refresh our take-home flyers given out to customers with their purchases. We use these flyers as guides for pricing out deli flower, and for promoting and relaying information about the dispensary outside of the store and beyond. The information provided needs to be clear, easy to read, and accessibility-friendly, as many of our customers are older and cannot read small type.

For the final sale of 2025, my managers decided to create a list of deals that would be available from December 20th to January 1st. Originally, it was going to be an advent-calendar style series with a new discount or deal every day, and I even completed the series and sent prints before our due date. But, unfortunately, due to changes from higher management, we had to change the project last minute to be a more simple series of deals availiable for all of the days, no avent calendar, with just one screen of moving signage displaying them all. 

Though I was disappointed because I had made them all already, I also understood that these things happen sometimes, so I was able to be flexible and create a new composition hosting all of the discounts and deals for the whole 12 days. In this experience I learned that working with both my managers and their superiors is important to meet a common goal: they work out specials and the math that keep customers coming back, and I design the visuals that catch the customers’ eye.

These designs were some of the quickest projects I’ve had so far. I got my list of information to include for the promotion on the same day I sent the prints in. Thankfully, CCS taught me well in terms of thinking under pressure and being able to make designs with a fast turnaround time, so I’m really happy with my design that I ended up with. As for the motion, that took a little longer as I had to actually animate a vector turkey, but that being said I am also proud of myself with how it turned out, and how quickly I got these together.

As my job provides access to an Adobe subscription, it also provides access to Adobe Stock, where I often find what I need when it comes to textures, stock footage, motion backgrounds or loops, or several types of images or even vectors. Other websites I like are Texture Labs, Unsplash, or almost anywhere that I can find something that is public domain or open for commercial or personal use. I do not use AI generated assets or text in my work, ever.

In September, our business had a party for it’s first full year open. We wanted to bring lots of new customers in, but also welcome returning customers back with goodie bags, free products, local artists and food trucks in the parking lot, and just an all-around good time for our birthday. Naturally, we printed flyers to pass out to customers before the event, and at Detroit’s Dalley in the Alley event on the 6th. We would also have a crew documenting the party for socials.

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Lauren vs. Instagram

Soon after my firsr in-store design projects, I was given the full reigns to transform our dispensary’s Instagram page into a regularly posting, vibrant social media presence. I was told to post three times a week, and decided to make my posting days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I decided to focus on recording footage from inside the store with my phone, 1) to make it vertical and 2) give a homemade-familiar-realistic feel to the footage. 

I try my best to incorporate a combination of digital graphics, photos, and videos from inside the store, while also maintaining a regular posting schedule and keeping up with the reels to keep viewers engaged with the algorithm. I want to highlight our budtenders themselves and what it’s like to shop with them, as the customer service is the biggest appeal to our store besides the products themselves.  Something very special I always make sure to include is people at our vendor days, where brand ambassadors come into our store and have a promotion on their products, as well as inform customers of new drops and usually pass out merchandise and brand supplies. As someone with a strong interest in the cannabis packaging industry, I always make sure to give them my card.

CLICK TO VISIT OUR INSTAGRAM

Since becoming fully remote in January, I have been enjoying revisiting my love for photography, specifically product photography, that I discovered at CCS. I always enjoyed photography in general, but I’ve found it’s easier for me when I have a clearly defined subject. I love visiting the store and photographing things as they exist in real life, to give the social media audience an authentic inside look, and to remind them to visit on their day off. I absolutely love connecting the visual design language of Simply Loud with the photos and videos of our people that keep the store running every day, as I feel like it gives another layer of meaning to the posts I create for the digital audience.

A Simply Designed, yet Strong Visual Language

In my series called Simply Spotlights, I highlight brands I personally enjoy, and display products as both beautifully designed objects to celebrate and brand identities to remember. This is especially because I’ve learned working as a budtender that customers knowing brands by visuals alone is quite common, since there are hundreds of brands on the wall all competing for their eyes’ attention at once, and packaging could be the difference between one purchase or another. In Simply Reviewed, I have some of my budtender friends give me descriptions of some products they enjoy, and why they reccomend them to customers. 

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Working in the Detroit community and being able to contribute meaningful design materials to a place I enjoy shopping and working at is a really big deal to me. I am so thankful to my managers Trinity and Omar for their continued support and guidance as I expand my portfolio and skills while they give direction and continue to trust me and my work. Not everyone is lucky enough to work in one of their target industries straight out of college and be able to apply their skills on a near daily basis in a way that gives me a unique sense of purpose and feeling of moving forward. Stay tuned for more updates and even bigger projects! -L